Sunday, March 11, 2012

Its March and Spring is very close. It's also Women's History Month and definitely an appropriate time to talk about women both past and present. We are pushing to complete Lost In Living by this Summer. Your support has given us the opportunity to work with an experienced editor for two months, full-time, and we have already made a lot of progress. We couldn’t do this without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lost In Living is about the intersection of motherhood (parenthood) and the artist’s life. What you will see in this film are four women who intimately examine and reveal how they manage to do both. These stories reflect how we all struggle with the balance of family commitment and personal work. Thank you for understanding the importance of this film.

• We need to raise more funds for the following:

1. Composer Fee ($2,500) – Ron Rennells, a talented and prolific composer, who created the score for my most recent film, Plain Art, has signed on to create an original score for Lost In Living.2. Trip to Fargo ($1,000) - One more shoot is needed to document Marjorie Schlossman’s Opening of her one woman show of paintings in June.3. Editor Fee ($3,000) – Our editor is already working at a reduced rate because she is passionate about the film. We need a few more weeks of time with her.

• And we have a special offer for you:

We are giving away a DVD of my most recent feature film Plain Art to each person who contributes $50.00 or more to Lost In Living. Just make your donation on the website and a DVD will be sent to you.

Please view the trailer below:

Description of Plain Art:In 2005, Fargo, North Dakota painter, Marjorie Schlossman (one of the subjects of Lost In Living), asked six architects to design and build art chapels that she could paint in. The only requirements were to stay within a $25,000 budget, make them portable and include a spiritual element without the trappings of religion. Filmed over two years, Plain Art intimately documents the risks, struggles and successes of this creative process. The film elucidates the unique convergence of art, architecture and spirituality as well as the conflicts that arise when an artist funds her own large, ambitious public art project. In a pragmatic and rural community like Fargo, abstract art is not always welcome and understood and the architects were asked to think more like artists and less like engineers. Plain Art shows people revisiting their idealistic notions of creativity and recapturing their own personal faith and spirituality

• If you didn’t get a chance to see any of the new clips that have been posted on Facebook each week, here are links to those. And while you’re at it you can subscribe to the youtube channel here and receive notifications every time I upload a new clip.

• Please like the facebook page here. Each week I post a short clip from the film, some of them clips that may not even make it into the finished film. See outtakes and in depth observations and reflections because you liked the facebook page.

• Rachel Power, Author of the book The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood, recently wrote about Lost In Livinghere. The Divided Heart is an extremely worthwhile book featuring conversations with some of Australia’s most prominent writers, artists and musicians about combining the twin passions of art and motherhood.

• As always, all contributions are completely tax deductible. It’s easy to contribute by visiting the website here and clicking on the donate button. If you are not comfortable donating on-line, please feel free to write a check to my non-profit fiscal sponsor “Filmmakers Alliance” and mail it to me at 1218 East Palm Street, Altadena, CA 91001. You will receive a thank you/receipt letter for your taxes.